Sunday Secret
by ShutUpAndPull
Summary: A quick one-shot set early in season 5. For Castle, there's nothing quite like a Sunday morning.


**Disclaimer: **I do not and will never own these exquisite creatures.

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**Sunday Secret**

The winter sun of Sunday dawn whispered soft, golden light throughout the room, the resulting shadows dancing in abstract patterns on the walls all around them. The silence of the early hour was palpable, like a welcome weight of comfort, broken only by the rhythmic tick of Castle's wristwatch on the nightstand beside him.

He rubbed the haze from his eyes and stretched the kinks from his muscles with the subtlest of movements, every effort made not to wake her. Sundays gifted a rare morning of rest in Kate's world, and he never wanted to rob her of one moment of it. They'd drifted to sleep late- not the result of any calculation on their part, but rather one born of the irrepressible desires of hand, mouth, and body, as was so often the aftereffect of their being alone together.

He reached for the tumbler of water he'd tiptoed naked to the kitchen for a few hours earlier and swallowed its remnants with muffled satisfaction, the room temperature of the liquid of negligible import. Kate still hadn't stirred and he preferred it that way, the opportunity to focus all of his attention on her without hindrance or objection one he relished.

He'd already come to know her body's routine over their brief time together, though he was certain she'd deny its very existence if he ever introduced the subject. The morning always found her flat on her back, one foot tucked securely beneath the knee of the opposite leg, one arm outstretched along her side, the other visibly draped across her chest. Castle rotated onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow, the perfect vantage point from which to drink all of her in.

Her chest rose and fell gently with each breath, and her elegant fingers absorbed the motion without the slightest flutter. Wild, golden brown hair sprawled across the pillow in perfect chaos, as though orchestrated with military precision, and without a moment's thought he reached out to nestle its soft ends in his fingertips. His entire body smiled at the sensation, at the memories the simple touch evoked.

Castle's arm grew weary from the weight of his body, his joints stiff and demanding relief. He dropped gracefully and curled up on his side, his head pressed against the far edge of his pillow, as near to Kate as he could possibly get without making contact. His eyes traced her profile, journeyed down and up and down, over and over again. The invading light of the outside world delicately kissed her skin, and he knew it wouldn't be much longer before this time he loved so much would, once again, come to an end.

"God, you're beautiful," he whispered, without any true intention of the words actually escaping his lips.

"Hmmm?" The sound floated out of her from somewhere deep inside, as her body shifted in stretch. She rotated her head toward him and found him grinning as he took in the adjusted view. "Hey," she purred in her morning fog, "wh'time is it?"

"Too early for you to be awake."

She tried to stifle the yawn that crept up and out, but that was of no use, and Castle chuckled at the tiny sound that brought it to its conclusion. "But, you're awake," she pointed out, both certain and confused at the same time. "Y'okay?"

He swept a strand of hair from her forehead and trickled his finger down the line of her angular cheek. "I'm good, yeah- happier now that I've seen those gorgeous green eyes of yours. How those things are legal still defies all logic and understanding."

"I could say the same about yours, Mr. Castle. Especially when they look at me like _that_."

Beneath the sheets, the silk of her bare thigh flirted with the light scratch of his, and the subsequent tingle the union inspired traveled all the way down her body, from the tip of her head to that spot just below her waist, that spot he always possessed the power to electrify, with or without intention.

With a playful tug at her hip- one that elicited a mystical amalgam of giggle and moan- he rolled her body onto its side, a mirror of his own, his knee trapped deliciously between hers. "And exactly what way would you be referring to?"

Kate's eyes fell to his lips, as they so often did, the magnetism of their soft, wet, pale pink hue impossible to escape. She inched her body in closer, his invading leg shifting upward until it locked into place against her center. He took notice, in those few seconds, when her eyes fell shut and her teeth bit at her lip, his pulse quickening, his heart skipping.

"I watch you too sometimes. And I know what I'm thinking about when I do." Her thumb came up and traced the soft arch of his eyebrow. "And I wonder if you're dreaming about us, and what we're like in the freedom of that world your mind creates."

"Wow, you really are a good cop, Detective. I don't know why I even try to keep anything secret from you at all." He pushed in and brushed her lips lightly with his own. "How did I even…you're just so beautiful. Do you know that?"

"I know that only because you always tell me," she whispered, the tip of her nose tickling his. "But I don't want you to keep things secret from me, Castle. I want this to be different, because it is different. So, if you're going to stare creepily at me while I sleep, you should share that with me." Her face lit up in playful smile.

Castle flexed the muscle of his thigh against her and her breath jumped. "Okay, then, consider this notice of my intent to stare creepily at you while you sleep. Well, minus the creepily part since, from what I'm feeling right now, you don't find it at all unpleasant. In fact-"

"You should stop talking now, Castle," her voice trembled, as she seized his mouth.

He pulled back gently, moments later, his lungs in frustrating need of air. He panted audibly as her fingers tugged and kneaded the soft hair at the base of his neck. "God, I love Sunday mornings," he murmured against her grinning lips, and he went in for more.


End file.
